Intellectual property can be defined as a number of diverse kinds of ideas or creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are acknowledged and can be legally protected.

With the great strides in technology over the years, the internet has made information constantly and readily available. Creative materials such as music, poems, articles, pictures etc. can now be easily found on the internet, but the ease in which they can be copied or downloaded illegally or without authorization has led to owners of these properties counting lots of losses from their works.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an arm under the United Nations was tasked with the obligation of setting up laws to protect intellectual property all over the world. World Intellectual Property Organization established that intellectual property shall include but not limited to:

Trademark: This includes patents, industrial designs, logos, and names that are used to identify a business product or service.

Image Rights or Right to Publicity: This refers to a person’s image or name. The image rights ensure that an individual’s name or image cannot be used to commercially promote a product or service without the owner’s consent.

The right of Privacy: Even though it is a bit slack in relation to intellectual property, the right of privacy can be used to protect against republishing online content e.g. blogs that may say contain private facts.

Trade Secrets: This involves business secrets or sensitive information about a business that if leaked out could give other competitors an edge over them.

In the electronic world, it is always wise and important to protect your intellectual property. This can be achieved in a number of ways as mentioned below:

Clearly label your works or content for easy identification, either through a copyright or some notice that you own it.

Do not distribute or allow third parties access to download or acquire property that does not belong to you. Place in guidelines or company policies.

Take the initiative to pursue individuals who infringe your copyrights legally.

Always remember to cite accordingly if borrowing literary information and also credit sources of digital content.

The local authority is tasked with the obligation of protecting children welfare. Under the Family and Law of Child are:

Child Support Act,

Financial Orders for Children

The enforcement of financial obligations to a child or children.

Should issues arise of child abuse, the local authority is bound to get involved with the family in question. In extreme cases where the child is in danger, the local authority has a jurisdiction to commence investigations into the matter.

There are a couple of ways through which the local authority can be involved in cases where the child’s welfare is at stake. The following people can report instances of child abuse to the local authority:

A neighbor or friend.

The child himself/herself.

The police.

Any member related to the child’s family.

Teachers or members of staff within the child’s school.

The child’s doctor.

After a case of abuse of child welfare has been reported, social workers within the local authority should come up with a decision as soon as possible on what actions need be undertaken. The agreed-upon measures must be told to the person who has reported the case of child abuse.

Should the social workers determine that auxiliary action is required, investigations should commence. According to the law, investigations should not take more than forty-five working days starting from the date when the case was first reported. The duration of investigation is subject to taking into account the risk at which the child stands, should it be seen that the child is at more risk, investigations may need to be done more quickly.

After finalizing the investigations, the social workers will then decide on whether further action is required or not. Examples of decisions that they could make are:

Keep tabs on the situation and offer constant support.

Call for a child protection conference.

Child protection conference is a joint meeting comprising of people concerned about the child’s welfare e.g., parents, social worker investigating the case, the child’s doctor or teacher. Their primary objective is to decide on what is best for the child. Some of the decisions that a child protection conference can make are:

Document a protection plan on what steps and actions need be done to protect the child’s welfare.

Request for a court supervision order, this means that the social worker will play a significant role in the child’s life ensuring that she or he is well taken care of.

Commence court action to take the child under the care of a social services program.